Jairus
A synagogue leader named Jairus met Jesus by the Sea of Galilee and pled with him to heal his 12-year-old daughter, who was dying. As they made their way to Jairus’s home, a large crowd followed. On the way, a woman who touched Jesus’ robe was healed of a bleeding problem she’d had for 12 years. At this point, news arrived that Jairus’s daughter was dead, but Jesus said she was asleep. People laughed at Him, but He ordered them to stay outside. Jesus spoke to the child in the presence of her parents and His closest disciples, Peter, James, and John. Right away the girl got up and started walking, and Jesus directed that she be given food to eat.
Accounts of the restoration of Jairus’s daughter and the healing of the woman who had been suffering from a bleeding problem appear in each of the synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke (see Matt. 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56). Matthew, who does not mention Jairus by name, gave the most concise report. Both Mark and Luke provided numerous details, including Jairus’s name and the fact that his girl was 12 years old. Both Mark and Luke also report the presence of Peter, James, and John, the instruction Jesus gave that the child be fed, and the order He gave the parents to keep quiet about what had happened. Whether or not the parents talked, we learn from Matthew’s account that “this news spread throughout that whole area” (Matt. 9:26). We certainly would expect this to happen, even if these parents did as Jesus asked.
It is possible that Jairus was a leader of the synagogue located at Capernaum. He actually may have even heard Jesus numerous times and seen Him perform miracles. When he approached Jesus, “he fell at His feet.” And he “kept begging Him, ‘My little daughter is at death’s door. Come and lay Your hands on her so she can get well and live” (Mark 5:22-23). Both Jairus’s faith in Jesus and his passionate love for his daughter are evident here. From Luke we learn that this girl was his only daughter (Luke 8:42). When the girl revived at Jesus’ words, her mother and father “were astounded” (v. 56). According to Mark, they were “utterly astounded” (v. 42), or, as the KJV translators put it, “astonished with a great astonishment.” We can understand this response, since just moments before, news had come that the child had died.
In Jairus we see a father’s love and a follower of Christ’s faith; and in Jesus we see patient concern for those in need, as well as a willingness to help all who reach out to Him with a belief that He will respond.
